McCulloch eyes mental edge

Lee McCulloch hopes his late equaliser in the Old Firm derby can hand his team a mental edge over Celtic.

By Jamie Casey

Last Updated: 03/01/10 6:13pm

Rangers' goal-hero Lee McCulloch hopes his late equaliser in the Old Firm derby can hand his team a psychological edge in the Scottish Premier League title race.

McCulloch rose to meet a Steven Davis corner in the 82nd minute at Celtic Park to cancel out Scott McDonald's 79th minute opener as the sides drew 1-1 on Sunday.

Celtic looked to be on course for a vital win, which would have brought them to within four points of their Glaswegian rivals, with a game in hand on Rangers.

As it stands, Walter Smith's men maintain their 7-point lead, despite bombarding Allan McGregor's goal with wave after wave of attacks.

Asked if he thought the manner of the draw would do damage to Celtic's mentality, McCulloch said: "I hope it does a lot."

"They will they be banging their heads against the wall thinking 'why did we not win that game?'"

"I played in the France games for Scotland (in 2006 and 2007) and we got battered but still came away winning. That's football - you get that and you need to move on.

"We have to realise that we weren't good enough as a team but we managed to get that point and we will keep going for the rest of the games.

"I don't know how much time was left when they scored but their players and crowd got a lift from it.

"That's when we started to come into the game and maybe it was only going to be a set-piece that we would score from but the goal could go a long way as we come to the most important part of the season."